Torrential rain, attacking wing-backs and penalty shouts: The five key takeaways from Hartlepool United’s goalless draw with Scunthorpe United

Graeme Lee’s side kept a welcome clean sheet yesterday, but they couldn’t find themselves a winning goal at the other end.

It wasn’t pretty at times, but there were some positives to take away from the Suit Direct Stadium.

Here, we take a look at the five key takeaways from yesterday’s clash:

High Wing-Backs

Hartlepool’s 3-5-2 formation meant Pools were very compact in the middle of midfield with Mark Shelton, Nicky Featherstone and Tom Crawford often unable to pick an incisive pass through the Scunthorpe defence,

One of the consequences of this, however, was that Jamie Sterry and David Ferguson, who acted as the side’s ‘wing-backs’ were tasked with being the main creative outlet.

Graeme Lee admitted post-match that this was the plan to expose Scunthorpe, saying:

"We thought our wing-backs were key to try and get out [of defence] when we watched [Scunthorpe play].

"I just think we probably didn’t use that enough on the switch of play and they probably started a bit too high, or they were too high at times.”

However, as we know, Pools were unable to grab the goal that would have won them the three-points - but that wasn’t necessarily Ferguson and Sterry’s fault.

On numerous occasions, the duo received the ball in attacking areas but often had very little to aim at in the area with a big Scunthorpe defensive line commanding the box.

In fact, it was from set-pieces where the pair looked the most dangerous and Ferguson’s free-kick in the second-half was probably Pools’ best chance of the game.

Sterry could even have won the game at the death but his effort was smartly saved by Rory Watson.

Sterry and Ferguson acted more like wingers than wing-backs yesterday, however, they showed just how effective they can be as a duo, particularly in attack.

Mark Cullen’s role

Mark Cullen lined up alongside Luke Molyneux with the 29-year-old acting as the team’s ‘Target Man’.

Molyneux was tasked with doing the running off Cullen, hoping to get on the end of flick-ons from long-balls fired towards Cullen.

However, Cullen often struggled to win any aerial duels throughout the game with the striker being most effective when he was in tight situations.

A couple of times, particularly in the first-half, Cullen pulled out a deft flick of the ball, to change its direction and to make it fall into the path of one of his teammates.

One such moment even provided Crawford with a chance to strike towards goal, however, his low, rasping drive was saved by the Scunthorpe keeper.

Of course, conditions did not help Pools in their pursuit of playing some nice, quick, attacking football, however, resorting to long-balls aimed at Cullen certainly stunted their quality in-front of goal.

It simply isn’t Cullen’s game to dominate in the air, it certainly wasn’t possible against the Scunthorpe defence, and Pools should have reacted to this and adapted their game plan to make Cullen a more effective weapon.

Yes he could have had two penalties, more on that later, but his quality simply wasn’t utilised by Pools enough yesterday - one of the major reasons for their shutout.

Penalty shouts

Tight games are often decided by split-second decisions - and yesterday could, and possibly should, have been one of those games.

Twice, once in either half, Pools fans rose as one to plead for a penalty and twice, once in either half, the referee waved away their protests.

For many, the first one could fall in the ‘you’ve seen them given’ category, but the second, for what seemed like a clear pull on Cullen, many were left baffled by the referee’s refusal to point to the spot.

Certainly, from the press box, it appeared that Cullen was impeded and that a penalty should have been awarded, alas, it was not meant to be.

In a game of few ‘clear cut’ chances, Pools probably just shaded proceedings but they needed that little bit of luck to go their way.

Horrible weather conditions

Anyone in attendance yesterday has probably just about warmed up. It was a bitterly cold ninety minutes, one that was not helped by constant rain and a swirling wind at the Suit Direct Stadium.

Any plans to play a quick passing game were thrown out the window when the rain started to fall, and this seemingly benefitted the visitors more than Pools.

Scunthorpe seemed happy to play direct and make life as difficult as possible for Graeme Lee’s side, something that they achieved over the course of proceedings.

If played in summer, it’s very likely that the end result would have been totally different, however, you can only play what is in front of you and in front of Pools yesterday was torrential rain and a dogged and determined opposition.

The North West Corner

It was a disappointing afternoon for Pools on the pitch, however, it was a great relief to see the North West Corner back on the terraces once again.

From minute one until the 90th minute, the ground was abuzz with noise and although there was very little to cheer, spirits, unlike the weather, never dampened throughout the contest.

Post-match, Graeme Lee recognised the importance of the supporters, saying he was disappointed his side couldn’t send them home singing about a win:

"When the fans are like they were today, my only thing is I wish we could have give them a little more to go off with.

"They’re giving everything, we’re giving everything on the pitch, it would have been nice to give them a bit more to cheer.”